Bombay Velvet - review (Spoiler Alert)

     Finishing entire end scroll I walked out of the screen. Silent. The rest of the people had left as soon as the end scroll began, luckily, not before that.

Bombay Velvet, produced by Fox Star and Phantom.
     The most awaited, the most eagerly awaited, the most exciting and the biggest film of the year was finally seen.

     One day I heard a news - Anurag Kashyap is doing a Trilogy on the Mumbai-Mafia, it's called Bombay Velvet.

-Some time later I hear that the film is about the Jazz musicians in Mumbai in 1960s, it's called Bombay Velvet.
-Then I heard Ranbir Kapoor is a street fighter in Bombay Velvet.
-Then it came to the ear that the film's budget is 90 crores.

With the budget of 18 crores if Anurag Kashyap can give us Gangs Of Wasseypur, what will he do with the budget 5 times of it!

-One day I heard that rough cut of Velvet went up to the duration of 4 n half hours. Then it was heard that it is cut to 2 n half. 2 hours of footage was edited. 2 hours of story was scrapped. So what we are going to watch is only what's leftover. Still I was super-duper curious.

     Bombay Velvet is the story based in 1960s and starts with the story of a city and Jazz. The prime characters Balraaj (Ranbir Kapoor), Rosie (Anushka Sharma), Kaizad Khambata (Karan Johar) the three main characters around whom the story revolves. There are many other big and small characters who are the part of the big scale conspiracy, some are the reason and some are just the functionary people of the process. Manish Chaudhary (playing Jimmy Mistry), Sidhhartha Basu (playing Romi Mehta) and Satyadeep Misra (playing Chiman) are some of the big ones.

     What I could make out of film is the whole film is concentrated on the story of Balraaj and Rosie. It is only their love story and everything that takes place around their love story.

The whole film is supposedly about the conspiracy. The conspiracy of connecting seven Islands and reclamation, land allocation and business politics of putting in the prime most real estate locations of Mumbai beneath their asses. That's the whole of it. Nothing more.

The story is vast. So vast that you cannot tell what exactly did you see. If you tell anything of it, you are sure to miss something. There is too much to grasp.

     Music is one of the best part of the film. Amit Trivedi, who has put all his heart out has done an excellent job. Almost 10 tracks including a few background scores he has brought the life to the film. However, something couldn't hold the film up above the head. Still, to reason with Amit, whatever he has done is more than what we ever asked for.

     Rajeev Ravi, the eye of the film, the cinematographer has given us a visual treat. After doing films that had to be shot looking down at the characters as many a times the crew did not have the permission to shoot where the scene is happening, Rajeev Ravi had all the space to keep whatever he wants for the camera wherever he wants too. To bring in all the angles that he can ever think of...and still make the film look Grand. It is like getting a salary of rs.5000 per month for 20 years and still living more than satisfactory life in that, someone starts paying you 5,00,000 and still you know what it can get you. The film is splendidly shot. 9.5/10 for Rajeev Ravi.

     Multiple writers of Kashyap Movie. Vasan Bala, Thaani, Gyan Prakash and the one who writes the final draft, shaping it the way he wants, molding many things which were written and everyone agreeing those changes to be better, Anurag Kashyap, were the four writers of the film. The adaptation of the book, Mumbai Fables written by Gyan Prakash, has a lot to give. But they had to stick to a flow. The scattered pieces all of which are very important needed to be brought in a closure. The subject is too big. And the film had to have a small duration. Though I may sound contradictory to what I said earlier, but though the story is vast, what we see of it is very enclosed part of it. The view of the film is too Micro giving only the borders of the Macro activities that are going on.

     Maybe this question would answer this crocked equation - If the story of the city as small as Wasseypur took 5 n half hours of duration to be told, how will the story of Mumbai be told in 2 n half hours? Still, to reason with the writers, they have arced it well from the big circle.

     The Bombay Velvet CUT that we Indians see is the one done by Prerna Saigal I suppose. That too the one which is edited to get the U/A certificate. I am really curious to see the Thelma Schoonmaker version of BV. I hope that would be more edgy and would glance some Kashyap (or Scorsese, as Thelma is the super-editor who edits Martin Scorsese's films.) The Thelma Version is kept for international markets and festivals is what I hear. Cutting out 2 hours of footage from the rough cut (the cut that is supposedly what director initially wants to keep in the film, without concerning distribution norms, rules and corrections) takes a lot of ruthlessness. I wonder If 4 n half hours is what Kashyap wanted to keep of it, what is it that we have seen and how contributing were those edited footages and tracks. Still to reason with the editors they have done a fabulous job of what they have kept of it.

     VFX of Mumbai in 1960s is something that you should look for. Super believable.

     Casting by Mukesh Chhabra and his casting associate Mandar Gosavi (my college senior) was done well. Though something was amiss.

     And the three departments which have done a superbbbbb job are - Production design (Sets), Costumes and Make-up. AMAZING work... you made Bombay Velvet live and elegant, these are the things that keep you so gripped with itself. These are the departments where there is nothing to reason. Outstanding work.

     Everyone has performed well. Anushka Sharma should put it in her agenda while signing that No shots closer than the WIDE-CLOSE-UP can be composed when she is the subject, or they should show us the Donald Ducks pictures or something...I don't know. It won't really make a difference. But for everything else, she has acted well. Though she has ACTED, she didn't become that character, I liked her singing (lip-matching) and in a scene where Johnny Balraaj and Rosie fight, where she hits him with the chair.-Karan Johar is impressive. Very impressive in the debut (well supposedly. He was in DDLJ, SRK's friend). He is the character, he is not Karan Johar after a point. You forget that he is not an actor. Even after signing the film for Rs.11, he has given out the performance of Hundred-thousands. Yet, he lacks while he dies. When Johnny stabs the knife in Khambata's stomach, it is not Khambata who gives the expressions of being stabbed, but Karan who gives expressions of being fucked (in the literal sense), very pornographic expressions, so much so that for a sec we wonder if it was really the knife that went in Karan's body.

-Rest of the character artists have done their jobs just too well. There are many many characters... No one lacks anywhere at all.
-And the main Hero, Apan ke Story ka Big Shot...Ranbir Kapoor, has been Johnny Balraaj stunningly well. He looks more than handsome, he has so much of variations, his eyes are in his command, and we are captivated seeing his performance. Ranbir Kapoor is now the best among the superstars. There is no challenge to that. Right above Shahid. The one who is popularly the best, only acts, Ranbir Becomes. 10/10 to Ranbir and yet I feel that there is lot lot more potential in him, hidden and stuffed.

And finally Mr. Anurag Kashyap.

The film has some of him in the first half. Right from the title sequence we start seeing some bits of Kashyap... There is one frame where we see the root cause of Kashyap too (his parents).

The fault is mine. I didn't go for a movie, I went to watch the art of Anurag Kashyap. If I had been gone to watch a movie, I might have liked it, as I have only praised everything above except the sentences of reasoning.

But my fault was I was searching for Kashyap element throughout the film. He is there... in bits he is there, but not what we went for. I don't want to blame that he couldn't handle the budget, because that is not the case, but somewhere in the 90 crores film, Anurag is only seen in 4-5 crores of it. The rest of the film is only the covering of the extremely wide spread story- which they didn't want to show but didn't want to hide either, and ended up doing neither of it.

I don't know what is the truth of the person. Is it like Kashyap couldn't lay his charm juggling with endless possibilities to include in the final cut?
Or
Kashyap does his work best in the constrained budget, where the fact that he is not getting everything he wants churns out the best of him to put in the film?

Or  

Kashyap was always what Bombay Velvet is, he always wanted to be this but was reasoning with himself with the kinds of films that he did earlier?  

Which one is You Kashyap?

Or 

Somewhere, after shaking the hands of praises and complements, when you finally sleep after the trip of yours, you know it with yourself inside your heart, that there could have been much more to it, much much more to Bombay Velvet?

If I were, what we think of you, It would be the latter most possibility for me.

     The film is really good, something that someone never really gave to us (BOMBAY was shown equally well in Once upon a Time in Mumbai). But there is something awesome in it. The only thing that lacks is what differs Anurag from others.

     After watching the film I was not satisfied, I craved for more of it - not coz it was so brilliant that I couldn't get enough - but because I wanted to see the what Kashyap gives it to us.

I wanted - Ki mere haat ke baal shaan mein khade hoke mujhe salaami thoke - The Goosebumps that brings the grin on our faces, which makes our blood flow faster, our heart beat only for every cinematic moment of it; where, in our head, we see ourselves in that protagonist, where we know that this is bloody Kashyap!

     However, there was a Scorsese colonised Kashyap mind that was seen in one shot, not exactly that but yes, sure the inspiration had to be the beginning on Goodfellas where a guy is stabbed by Joe Pesci in the trunk of a car. Though the situation here is totally different and emotions are different, but that was Scorsese. Some parts also look like Scarface, Carlito's Way and The Godfather, just the inspirations or the paid homage.

     The Tommy Gun sequence is the only thrilling sequence in the film. but there too Kashyap was much more in love with the Guns than the Scene.

There is a lot more that I want to say. But somewhere I am disheartened because I expected an Anurag Kashyap Film.

Still an unbiased verdict would be 7.5/10.

I wanted it to be 12/10. Still, I have reasoned with myself on many things.

Piku - by Shoojit Sircar

     The latest one that I liked very much is Shoojit Sircar's Piku. It has hit the screens this Friday and the word of mouth has already increased the curiosity of those who have not seen it.

     Flaunting the cast of the film-stars who can actually perform wonderfully, Piku takes us through a very feel good and relaxed Journey of our mental state. Ironically, the journey of the characters in the film, which is the journey of a relation between the father - Bhashkor Banjerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) and the daughter - Piku (Deepika Padukone), is very quirky, quarrelsome and cranky. However, that is magic of Piku; in spite of this, you are quite contend by the end of the film.

     Bhashkor Banerjee is 70 and a single father of the 30 year Piku, both of them staying in Delhi with a servant to take care of Bhashkor in Piku's absence. Bhashkor is old and suffering through the serious illness of over thinking about the constipation and relating almost every reason of happiness of life with his motion. The critical characterisation is seen in glimpses in his daughter as well and they both make a superb father-daughter pair. Piku takes too much of care of her ailing (well, sort of) father and is always there for him, no matter what, leaving all the best moments of her life behind her. For some reason they need to go to their hometown Kolkata, and an owner of a car renting company is stuck between this duo, while driving them to their destination. The presence of this third person changes some very small things for everyone for good.

     A story cannot be more simple. The dialogues are very natural and yet too catchy to be claimed as natural. It is very well written for screen. They have very well managed the balance between, creating a scene and capturing a moment. this is what makes Piku distinctly gripping.

     It is shot very well by Kamaljeet Negi. It does not have the budget of 90 crores to make audience give something different. It is just capturing into the camera the different aspects of same moments that we normally live.

     And to make the audience feel that people we are watching on the screen are the PEOPLE like you and me, the actors had the toughest job to do. The leading lady had to do much more than just looking good and distracting the viewers attention from her face to her cleavage, or rather what actresses are used for these days. Deepika has done the perfect job. She looks naturally beautiful. She looks like someone who you see everyday around you. She has acted blissfully and her presence is refreshingly tempting. Amitah Bachchan has played the father and he is the ultimate BAAP of the screen. The guy has lived the character yet again. And the king of natural performances Irrfan Khan, he looks so simple and so dashingly handsome and yet 100% like a person you meet daily and feel nothing different about those kind.

     The whole writing and the capturing of the film was given all the justice by these actors.

Shoojit Sircar, the person who did Vicky Donor and then a 180 degrees flipped genre, Madras Cafe and again a very delightful Piku, is a man with multiple talent and variety of mindsets within himself. He too, did not fall short in anything, with everyone giving their best to this project.

     Though the first 15 minutes irritate you, which I am sure is kept deliberately by the makers, the rest of 108 minutes entertain you to the core.

     The End is the best part where we see Deepika playing Badminton. That scene is the required full-stop to the long sentence which you enjoy reading throughout the film.

     My verdict is 8.9/10.

Awesome work of art Team Piku.